Door handle



April 15, 1941. RD 2,238,513

DOOR HANDLE Filed Dec. 20, 1939 Inventor i0 RANK ,4. WARD,

By 4% M A itorneys Patented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHQE DOOR HANDLE Frank A. Ward, Hollister, Calif.

Application December 20, 1939, Serial No. 310,216

1 Claim.

This invention relates broadly to handles, and more particularly to a handle particularly designed for use in operating or manipulating a door latch, the invention being in the form of a crank to be mounted on the operating rod of the latch and to be conveniently engaged by the arm for manipulating the latch incidental to the opening of the door, and thus leaving the hand, or hands free, there being no necessity of touching the door with the hands.

The invention together with its objects and advantages will be best understood from a study of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure l is a fragmentary side elevation of a portion of a door showing the handle applied to the latch.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the assembly shown in Figure 1.

Referring more in detail to the drawing it will be seen that 5 indicates a fragmentary portion of an ordinary door equipped with the usual door latch 6 that is ordinarily operated by knobs attached to the ends of a rod or spindle such as that shown at l2 in Figure 2, an operation which is difiicult when a persons hands are used for carrying bundles, or are wet, injured, or for any other reason cannot be conveniently used for turning the door knob.

In accordance with the present invention there rod or other suitable material, bent, shaped and dimensioned to provide a relatively straight shank portion 8 merging at one end in a lateral and slightly downwardly directed hook 9 of a size to conveniently accommodate the forearm.

The bill of the hook 9 is curved downwardly as at Ill so as to offer no resistance to the engaging of the forearm with the hook, and also to obviate any possibility of the arm of the garment of the personbecoming snagged thereon.

At the end thereof opposite to the hook 9 the shank 8 of the handle is equipped with a socketed part II for engagement with one end of the operating rod l2 of the latch, and is secured on said end of said operating rod in any manner found desirable and suitable for the purpose.

By referring to- Figure 1 of the drawing, it will be seen that the position of the handle, when the door is closed and the latch is in closed position, is shown in full line; the dotted lines indicating the positions of the handle when the latch is in open position, it being noted in this connection that the handle I may be swung upwardly or downwardly for retracting the latch 6 so that the door may be opened.

From the foregoing it will be observed that When it is desired to open the door from either side thereof a person may place the forearm in the crotch of the hook 9 and then by either pushing up on the handle 1, or pressing down thereon rotate the operating rod I2 for retracting the latch bolt 6, thus permitting the door to be moved to open position. It will be understood that when the handle is to be moved downwardly the forearm is simply placed on top of the portion 9 of the handle and pressure applied to press the handle downwardly but when the handle is to be swung upwardly the forearm is placed under the portion 9 with the part 10 extending downwardly over the inner side portions of the forearm with the top portion of the forearm engaging the part 9 and applying pressure thereto to swing the handle upwardly. Thus the forearm solely may be used, leaving the hands free to hold packages or the like, and in no wise requiring the placing of the hand, or hands against the door for completing the opening thereof; it being further apparent that in addition to the advantages hereinabove enumerated, the use of such a handle will avoid the necessity of one touching a soiled door knob with the hands, as for instance, in toilets and similar places, and that such a handle as contemplated by this invention may be operated by the knee as well as the forearm.

It is thought that a clear understanding of the construction, utility and advantages of an invention of this character will be had without a more detailed description.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is:

A handle for rotating a latch operating rod which passes transversely through a door, said handle comprising an elongated shank paralleling the door and having one end connected to an end of the rod, the free end of the shank being curved outwardly to form a substantially horizontally arranged bow for receiving a part of the forearm of a person opening the door, the free end of the bowed portion extending downwardly.

FRANK A. WARD. 

